1. Field of the Disclosed and/or Claimed Inventive Concepts
The presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) relates generally to liquid-based coatings for writable-erasable surfaces, products that include such coatings, and methods for making and using the same.
2. Background
Dry erase boards are well known in the art. They are found in classrooms (replacing chalkboards) and in board rooms (often replacing flip charts). Smaller dry erase boards are used on doors, walls, and lockers, in homes, dormitories, restaurants, and various other places where people want to jot down notes. The user writes on the dry erase board with a dry erase marker and then simply wipes off the marking using a cloth or dry eraser.
Dry erase boards typically include a substrate, such as paper or board, and a coating, such as a lacquer coating, extending upon the substrate. The coating provides a writing surface that can be marked using dry erase marking pens. Dry erase marking pens, which are typically felt tip marking instruments, contain inks that not only can mark such surfaces, but also can be erased with minimal effort using, e.g., a dry eraser, cloth, or paper tissue.
The erasability of dry erase inks from the writing surfaces of dry erase boards can deteriorate over time, resulting in the formation of non-removable “ghost images.” In addition, such surfaces can be incompatible with some dry erase markers, and can be permanently marked if inadvertently written on with a permanent marker.
Graffiti is a common problem encountered in areas of access to the general public for example, walls of a public restroom or portable restrooms or in a subway station. Moreover, generally, unwanted markings on surfaces can occur almost anywhere. Graffiti is often in the form of paint, such as spray paint, but graffiti and other markings may be applied by markers, crayons, and other writing fluids. As used herein, the term “graffiti” will be used to refer broadly to unwanted markings, whether consisting of paint, such other fluids or other unwanted markings, scuff marks and the like.
Such markings are particularly troublesome because they are often very difficult to remove from the surfaces on which they have been applied. Thus, painted surfaces often must be repainted to cover up the markings and sometimes must be even stripped and then repainted. For example, graffiti often is applied with paint similar to that on the surface. Removal of the graffiti paint by abrasion or with a solvent therefore is impractical because it typically results in removal of at least a portion of the underlying paint. Unpainted surfaces sometimes must be sandblasted to remove the markings.
Other solutions also include coating the surface of the article that would serve as a barrier to permit easy removal of such marking, or coating the surface that may be resistant to graffiti. However, such solutions are expensive and labor intensive. Additionally, not all surfaces can be coated with graffiti-resistant coating.